First days in Honolulu...

We arrived in Honolulu on a hot Wednesday afternoon. Our Rough Guide advised us to take the Airport Waikiki Express to our hotel for $9 which we did. Fortunately we were the first hotel so were off the bus quickly. We had booked a room privately through the internet at the Ala Moana Hotel which is close to the Honolulu Convention Center and the Ala Moana Mall; apparently one of the largest outdoor malls in the world…I chose this because it was between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, close to one of the main bus transit centers. It turned out to be legit, a great place with a lovely airy room, a nice pool, just a block from the beach, within walking distance of Waikiki and all it’s entertainment and restaurants, a couple of minutes to the bus transit center, close to a great Japanese supermarket and five minutes walk from where I ended up getting a job! Perfect!

That first day we unpacked (a luxury after two weeks on the road) and headed out to explore. First stop was a Japanese noodle shop/hole in the wall where we had fried noodles with pork and vegetables, a seafood noodle soup and gyoza (pan fried dumplings). YUM!!! This is going to be great! We stopped by the supermarket to check out what they had and to look at prices and felt like we were back in Asia. It was just like walking into a supermarket in Hong Kong! Asian vegetables, fruit, noodles and spices, plus a bunch of stuff we had no idea about and an amazing seafood selection. We decided to try the poke, a Hawaiian specialty of raw fish (or tofu) with sauce and spices, and opted for the tuna. YUM!!! This is really going to be great! The sushi is cheap as well: twelve or fourteen pieces of ahi tuna for $3.99. Looks like we are going to be eating a lot of fish!

I can’t get over how hot and humid it is though and we are sweating profusely as we wander down into Waikiki and head for the beach. There is a breeze blowing off the ocean which makes it a little more bearable, but there are people everywhere! We get off the small strip of beach and escape the apparently endlessly ongoing construction down at the Hilton and Marina end of the beach and head for the main promenade area. It is pretty much the busiest road in Waikiki and there are cars, taxis, buses, bikes, minibuses, scooters, bikes and people everywhere – quite the island paradise! The ocean is gorgeous though, blue and turquoise and green with waves gently lapping against the edge of the sand. The sun is shinning, the water is full (and I mean full!) of heads bobbing around with their surf boards waiting for the next perfect wave, kids running in and out of the water and people generally hanging out. And we are fascinated by the Banyan trees and the flocks of birds they attract. Every evening just before dusk they set up a cacophony of squawking that I will always remember!

We walk down to the end of Waikiki which is apparently a number of different ‘beach parks’ but in reality is one long strip. I love being near the ocean again and we can’t resist dipping our toes into the Pacific! It will be so refreshing to jump in! We wander back to the hotel through the International Market Place which is a little more our style than the designer boutiques, stores and malls that line Kalakaua and Kuhio Avenues (don’t think I’ll get used to those street names either!). And we find the places where I have interviews the next day. Crap! That’s right! I need to start thinking about work! This isn’t a vacation…!!!!!

Sunset Hawai'i style...